dkirschner's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)

[May 23, 2014 07:36:57 PM]

Vast improvement over the first. This is one of the most solid games I’ve ever played. I have nothing bad to say about it unless it is forced criticism such as…the platforming sections were linear and the puzzles were easy…yeah okay sure, but they were wonderful as they were. Pure gold.

The story is excellent, and as per the last game, I absolutely loved all the characters. The bad guy was less bumbling in this one. Actually he wasn’t bumbling at all, but was a real power-hungry, scarred eastern European man who would stop at nothing to reach his goal. There is a funny dynamic between Drake and the two female characters, one of whom he had a relationship blooming in the last game, and one of whom he presumably had a relationship with some other time past. They are all very funny together.

The environments were pretty impressive last time, though they became boring and repetitive the more you had to look at them and backtrack through them. This time, they are even more awe-inspiring and they are much better integrated into the gameplay. I remember in the last game my biggest problem was that the platforming and the combat were divorced from one another, and that neither really utilized the awesome environments as much as they could have. This game integrates all those things masterfully.

The combat is much more fun this time around. I’m not 100% clear on why that is the case, since the guns and things were basically the same. It must be more on the combat encounter designs. As in, the first game, you just squat behind cover and shoot moving ducks through many waves of enemies. This game requires more movement. There are also more places to move, as the levels expand vertically and in all directions. You can flank more, find more hidden weapons, enemies move around more and so on. There are no more endless waves of enemies. There is a new “stealth” element that was absent from the first game and adds much here. If you take out all enemies in an area without being detected, reinforcements don’t come. The melee fighting is MUCH better this time too. You can do stealth kills, kills from cover, different enemies trigger different melee sequences where you might have to push a button here and there to block and counter. It’s much more cinematic and choreographed, which works well.

I liked the mythical enemies in this game better too. The first ones amounted to zombies. This one has yetis! And they don’t just mindlessly run at you like the zombies did, but they are super strong and fast and agile, much more exciting to face off against.

The game overall is incredibly cinematic. It’s like playing a 10-hour action movie. Highly highly highly recommended. Hopefully the third one is this good!
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